How The Music Industry Has Gone Downhill And What We Can Do To Bring It Back
The music industry is made of remnants of art that, at one time, were as beautiful as the Mona Lisa. In the 1960s and 70s, popular artists wanted to make money, sure, but back in those days, people really cared about the music they produced.
Take a look at Joni Mitchell, for example. She can play guitar and she had a hot look back in 1965, when she first moved to the US from Canada. She played folk music, which was controversial at the time, considering the fact that the best-selling album of 1965 was the soundtrack to “Mary Poppins.”
Classical music influenced Joni Mitchell, who made it to the radio by way of experimentation with jazz and rock. If you’re the kind of person who feels strongly that lyrics make up an album, please look her up.
She is a poet gifted with the power of evoking true thought and emotion through strategic phrasing and incredibly descriptive words.
During the 60s and 70s, people had a good time listening to music. They put albums on record players and listened intently to what artists or bands were trying to say through their music. They paused the records and discussed their reactions to new songs or delved deeper into songs they heard many times before.
Parents during the late 60s and mid-70s were likely afraid of the sounds that came from their teens’ radios. At the time, the Eagles, Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix were jarring and controversial sounds.
All of the “classic” songs and “oldies” you enjoy listening to now made differences for reasons that will stand the test of time. They are still people’s favorite songs because they came from places of honesty and truth.
Of course, artists wanted to make a dollar to support themselves, but they also wrote and played because they loved the craft — not just for the fame or supposed status that came with being a musician.
By the mid-1980s, sex and drugs had polluted the music industry. Labels started demanding certain sounds and suggesting that artists record with certain producers.
Once top dogs in the industry completely gave in to the money, the business went flat. There’s a reason for the high turnover rate among popular musicians.
It would be difficult to find many 20-something girls who don’t have a soft spot for Spice Girls’ songs. Labels, however, put together bands like Spice Girls and ‘N SYNC essentially to sell albums to impressionable teens and tweens.
Nowadays, consumers are subject to artists who are merely vessels for delivering images that record label executives conjure. The music industry sells music for mindless consumers.
Apparently, what the public wants is a mocked-up version of studio instrumentals with highly auto-tuned voices laid on top of tracks. The individualism and creativity that musicians used to offer has been slowly sucked out of the entire industry in favor of quick-selling singles.
As consumers, we should look for artists who write, play and sing about what they know. Bands like the Arctic Monkeys are bringing music back to life; they’re like a new version of the Beatles. Alex Turner, the main songwriter and guitarist, wrote about love while he was in love for the band’s latest album, AM.
Imagery is used throughout the whole album and makes listeners pay attention and listen to songs more than once. The whole album is as powerful as the singles played on the radio.
So, educate yourself. Listen to music that matters in the grand scheme of things, music that makes people feel real emotions and live through real issues. Stop buying in to what the major labels are selling so we can save the music industry.